


won't say I'm in love

by driedupwishes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hercules (1997) Fusion, Eren as Hercules, Ereri Week 2015, Levi as Meg, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 09:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4096141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everywhere he turns Levi can see Wonderboy - Eren’s - face. It’s on vases. It’s ridiculous! But the real deal? That does things to Levi’s chest he’s not ready to admit to. </p><p>Apparently that thing even sticks around when Eren has a damn lion headdress on like a fool.</p>
            </blockquote>





	won't say I'm in love

He forgot about his task the second he hopped the fence and landed on the lawn.

Everything was Eren. The vases, the statues, the mosaic on the pathway; even the drapes had Eren’s face on them. Levi had to bite his tongue on a laugh almost immediately, because it was just so _ridiculous_. Awkward little Wonderboy, who’d come to his ridiculous rescue in the swamps, now with his face on walls. Levi couldn’t imagine he enjoyed this, not Eren. Maybe at first he would’ve gotten a kick out of being famous, but the fool with the crooked grin that Levi knew was probably desperate for some peace and quiet right about now.

It wasn’t hard to get in, not really. It wasn’t like that little goat had gotten Eren any real protection; just a fancy gate and an empty threat. Levi could hear the girls out front, shrieking and squealing as they too found their own way onto the property. He ducked into the main building through an open window, slipping behind one of the drapes on the walls when he realized he was in the far corner of the main hall, the main hall where Eren was if his sudden loud shout was any indication.

“ _What's the point_ ,” Eren yelled. The voice echoed, strained in a way that made Levi’ s chest tight. He pressed himself against the wall, inching toward where the sound was coming from. Almost immediately following Eren’s shout came the crash of a shield knocking into a column, metal and stone, as jarring as the turmoil in Eren’s voice.

Another man started shouting, more crashes bouncing off the walls, and Shadis’ voice rose to join the fray. Levi peeked out from behind the drape at the chaos, just as the artist kicked over the platform for the vase he had apparently been painting, sending it crashing to the ground before he stormed off. Shadis was yelling at the guy’s back, stomping his little hoofs and shaking his fists, while Eren was-

Eren looked fucking ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than the statues and mosaics and fucking drapes. He was standing in the certain of a raised platform, a goddamn lion on his head, big puppy eyes dazzling as he ripped the silly headdress off and tossed it away to land on the ground with a sad little plop. His hair was all mussed up, so long it curled against the back of his neck, and Levi wanted to grab him by the collar and drag him down so that he could comb that into some manner of sense. Eren just tossed his head to get his hair out of his eyes, slumping to sit on the edge of the platform.

Oh yeah, Levi thought, looking at the way Eren melted in visible despair; Wonderboy needed this. Stupid fucking mission or no, Levi was going to get him out of here for a while.

“What do you _mean_ , what’s the point?! You want to go to Olympus, don’t you?”

Eren scrunched up his face at the little goat man, running his hands through his messy hair and only making it worse. Levi slipped out from behind the drapes to hide behind a pillar for a better view.

“Well, yeah,” Eren said, “but this stuff doesn’t seem to be getting me anywhere!”

Shadis’ face changed, the storm cloud of his anger receding. Levi would swear the satyr wasn’t a touchy feely kind of creature, but there was something almost caring about the way the grumpy little goat man stepped up to Eren. He only came up to his shoulder, but he reached up anyway, patting at the edge of Eren’s face gently.

“You can’t give up now; I’m counting on you!”

Eren deflated, slumping down until it was like the hand Shadis had on his face was the only thing keeping him upright. He had been so strong, so broad shouldered and clumsily confident the other times Levi had seen him; the small shape he took didn’t sit right in his gut.

“I gave this everything I had,” Eren said, voice just as small as the rest of him. His words rang in the hall with a sense of defeat that didn’t match the grin Levi remembered after the hydra’s defeat. Levi was three seconds from blowing his cover and going out there to yell some sense into him when Shadis sighed, pushing at Eren’s jaw until he lifted his head.

“Listen to me, kid,” the satyr said. “I’ve seen them all and I am telling you- and this is the honest to Grisha truth- you’ve got something I’ve never seen before.”

Eren picked up his head a little and when he smiled, just a little hopeful, Levi felt like he could breathe again.

“Really,” Eren asked quietly.

“I can feel it right down in these stubby bow legs of mine,” Shadis said, slapping at his goat legs. He was so terrifying, bald with piercing eyes, but like that, smiling just a little, Levi could see why Eren had stuck with him for so long. Why Eren wanted to be a hero with his training. “There is nothing you can’t do kid,” Shadis promised quietly.

Eren’s smile bloomed a little more, head ducking down and eyes going from sad to just _bright_ in a way that reminded Levi he was the son of a god. But the moment was ruined by the sound of the door opening, hinges groaning quietly as the same gaggle of girls Levi had seen earlier tumbled into the room and _shrieked_ at the sight of Eren.

Levi had been watching Eren’s battles with Kenny at the god of the underworld’s demand, so he’d seen the various expressions the rising hero made when faced with danger. However nothing was quite like the primal, startled fear on his face when the girls charged him, knocking Shadis on his goat ass and grabbing at whatever they could.

“A big old boar and a sea monster; nothing,” Levi muttered, darting from column to column until he was pressed against the wall by the door. “But a couple of girls show up and you nearly shit yourself. Nice.”

The screaming continued until it cut off with a high cry of, “ _where’d he go_?!”

Shadis whistled loudly, claiming, “there he goes, on the veranda!” which was impossible. Eren was fast, but he hadn’t hauled ass past Levi’s hiding space, so he knew that was impossible. The girls bought it easily though, shoving at each other as they once again knocked the satyr sideways in their attempts to get to their big shot hero. But with the satyr distracted by the girls there was no one to stop Levi from knocking the door shut behind them, leaving him alone in the room Eren had to be hiding in.

And hiding he was. It wasn’t hard to miss his sandals sticking out from a little curtained off alcove. Levi pushed away from the wall with a grin, enjoying the little twitch of Eren’s toes at the sound of Levi’s own sandals against the floor as he took his time approaching the alcove.

“Gee,” Levi drawled sarcastically as he reached for the edge of the curtain, “I wonder what’s behind this tiny little curtain…”

Eren’s face, startled and flushed with his hair all tangled and hanging in his eyes, was priceless. One of his shoulder straps had fallen down, leaving the slope of his neck to his bicep completely bare. It was a pity that he rushed to haul it back up, squeaking out, “ _Levi_!” in surprise. But only made Levi want to smile instead of grin, which he wished wasn’t his response.

You have a mission, he reminded himself pointedly. Where was Eren’s weakness?

“Wow I wasn’t- I haven’t seen you in a while and I-“

Eren’s stuttering slowed and Levi made the mistake of glancing back, watching the slow curve of Eren’s smile with a twist of his gut that left him sick and breathless.

“I missed you,” Eren told him sincerely.

Levi hated Kenny in that moment, but not as much as he hated himself.

(He could never hate anyone more than he hated himself.)

“I came to break you outta here,” Levi told him. Kenny had instructed him to _play it up some_ , but he couldn’t. Twisting Eren around his little finger wasn’t something he could do, but what he could do was buy Eren a few hours of peace before Shadis hunted them down. He’d tell the god of the underworld to go fuck himself and deal with the consequences later, because he couldn’t- he _wouldn’t_ manipulate Eren for that fucker’s gain.

“Break me out? But- Shadis has the whole day packed, I don’t know if I-“

“The world can live without your heroic acts for a few hours, Wonderboy,” Levi drawled. He reached out, snagging the edge of Eren’s collar and enjoying the illusion of hauling him close as Eren stumbled forward willingly, head bent to accommodate their height difference. “You need a break.”

Eren swallowed, lips curving into a smile that was equal parts braggy hotshot and country bumpkin charm that he’d oozed in the swamp.

“You really think my acts are heroic,” Eren asked quietly.

Something in Levi’s gut twisted, something he wasn’t ready to name or deal with. But ready to deal with it or not, it was there, and it burned as Eren stumbled forward another step, the edges of their sandals knocking gently together the same kind of way their breaths tangled as Levi tipped his head up until their noses were only a few inches apart.

“Watch it, buster,” Levi muttered. He reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of Eren’s eyes, tucking it behind his ear with more care than he meant. His fingertip grazed the edge of Eren’s cheek and a shudder went down his spine, one that he tried to hide and ignore. “Or soon your head will be too big to fit on any of the damn vases you’ve got lying around.”

Eren flushed a little down his neck, but his grin was wild and sharp as he reached for Levi’s hand. Levi let him latch on despite the swooping in his gut, despite the way his heart thundered stupidly in his chest, rationalizing with himself that it would be easier to lead him out of here like this.

And if he got a little too much enjoyment out of the heat of Eren’s palm or the ghost of Eren’s breath against his cheek as they crept along the back wall before Eren lifted it up to aid their escape, well.

No one had to know about that. Not even fucking Kenny.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been talking about a Hercules au for, like, ages. since fucking November or something, it's ridiculous. I just really really love the idea of Eren as Hercules. so, mythology prompt, how was I going to do anything BUT this???
> 
> anyway, I hope you enjoyed! :)


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